USA > Wisconsin > Marathon County > History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens > Part 72
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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY
HERBERT HAYES MANSON, who is engaged in the practice of law at Wausau and is the junior member of the firm of Bump & Man- son, was born in this city, April 15, 1872, and is a son of Rufus P. and Catherine (Nicholls) Manson. Rufus P. Manson was born in 1830, came to Wausau in 1851 and went into the lumber business, and owned and operated saw mills until the time of his death, which occurred in 1897. He was not only an active and successful business man but was in- fluential in public affairs and served two terms in the office of mayor of Wausau. He married Catherine Nicholls who survived him but a few months, passing away at Wausau, July 4, 1897. Of their family of ten children, Herbert Hayes was the youngest of the seven sons.
Herbert H. Manson completed the High School course at Wausau and two years later entered the University of Wisconsin where he was graduated in law in the class of 1897. He immediately entered into the practice of his profession, remaining alone until the spring of 1909 at which time he became associated with Franklin E. Bump under the firm name of Bump & Manson. He served three terms as city attorney of Wausau and in 1899 and again in 1900 was district attorney of Mara- thon county. He has additional interests, being a member of the firm of Manson & Weinfeld, dealers in timber and farm lands; is vice presi- dent and manager of the Wausau Mississippi Timber Company, and is also extensively interested in Wausau real estate.
In 1905 Mr. Manson was married to Miss Daisy Dye, a daughter of Dr. A. A. Dye, of Madison, Wis., and they have one daughter, Pa- tricia. He is active and interested in political matters and a leading fac- tor in Democratic circles, serving as state chairman from 1905 to 1909, conducting the campaign in 1908 for Col. Bryan, but resigning this of- fice in 1909, having been a delegate at large from Wisconsin to the Demo- cratic National Convention at Denver. For many years he has been a member of the Masonic fraternity.
JOHN KIEFER, president of the John Kiefer Furniture Company and also president of the John Kiefer Produce and Creamery Company, is a representative business man of Wausau, of which city he has been a resident for forty-four years. He was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Ger- many, June 7, 1845, and is a son of Conrad and Annie (Smith) Kiefer.
John Kiefer was reared and educated in Germany, being twenty-three years of age when he landed on Staten Island, in the harbor of New York. In 1868 he reached Toledo, O., and in August, 1869, came to
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Wausau. As his trade was shoemaking, he opened a shoe shop and shoe store, being located in the J. Paff Bldg. and continued until 1876, when he sold out and in partnership with Jacob Paff built a tannery, with which he remained connected until 1878. In that year he embarked in a general mercantile business and carried it on until 1902, when he sold and went into the cold storage line, having built a storage plant in 1899. He has remained interested in the cold storage business until the present, giving it a share of his attention for he has additional interests. In 1907 he purchased a milk plant known as the Marathon County Creamery and manufactures ice cream, and owns also the John Kiefer Furniture Company. This enterprise was started in 1905 by the Wau- sau Furniture Company, in 1907 the present style being adopted. Mr. Kiefer takes justifiable pride in the fact that he has progressed in business entirely through his own unassisted efforts, in fact is a self- made man.
In 1871 Mr. Kiefer was married to Miss Bettie Tank, a daughter of O. G. Tank, of Wausau. They have had nine children, six of whom survive : Annie, who is the wife of B. F. Jones, of Oconomowoc; John L., who is secretary and treasurer of the Kiefer Bros. Produce Co., mar- ried Miss Jessie Crenshaw; Bertha Lillie, who is the wife of Don Bloss, proprietor of a fruit store at Wausau; Clara, who is the wife of Fred Wickman, a druggist, at Wausau; Otto, who conducts the furniture store for his father, married Miss Rugg, of Rochester, N. Y .; and Harry, who is interested in the produce business. In politics Mr. Kiefer and sons are Democrats. He is serving as supervisor of the Fifth Ward. With his family he belongs to St. Paul's Lutheran church at Wausau.
FERDINAND WEBER, a well known general farmer of the town of Rib Falls, residing on his farm of 160 acres, situated in section 23, five miles northwest of Marathon City, is a representative citizen of this section of Marathon county. He was born in this town, October 15, 1861, and is a son of Friedrich and Friederike (Rieman) Weber. Fried- rich Weber was born in Germany, in 1824, came to America in 1856, and jived in Marathon county, Wis., as a farmer, and died in the town of Rib Falls when aged forty-three years. He married Friederike Rieman, in 1848, who was born in Germany in 1824 and still survives, being a member of the household of her son, William Weber. There were six children in the family and after the death of her husband, Mrs. Weber
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continued to carry on the farm industries with the help of her sons. She is widely known and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Ferdinand Weber was six years old when his father died. He at- tended the public schools for some years but as soon as old enough con- tributed his services to the carrying on of the home farm. Later he spent three winters working in a lumber camp, afterward worked on a farm through two summers in South Dakota, following which he came to Rib Falls as a farmer, and after marriage settled permanently on his present place, on which, at that time, but thirty-five acres had been cleared. He now has sixty acres under cultivation and in addition to general crop raising he grows dairy stock. He has made many improve- ments here and put up all the substantial buildings, which include a fine brick house.
Mr. Weber married Miss Alvina Schroeder, who was born in the town of Rib Falls, a daughter of August Schroeder and they have six children : Louisa and Alma, living at home ; Anton, an employe of the Underwood Veneer Company at Wausau; Walter, a teacher in District No. I, town of Wein; and Clarence and Norman, both at school. In politics Mr. Weber is a Republican and many times his fellow citizens have testified to their high regard by electing him to local offices. For twenty succes- sive years he was school clerk in Rib Falls District No. 2, for five years at different times has served as supervisor, being a member of the board at the present time, and for two years was chairman of the town board. The family belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.
BERT C. GOWEN. city engineer of Wausau, Wis., an old and ex- perienced civil engineer, is one of Wausau's own sons, born here October 25, 1855. His parents were William and Sarah J. (Riley) Gowen. In 1846 William Gowen came to Wisconsin from Boston, Mass., and took up a homestead at Sun Prairie, but lost his land on account of meeting with a serious accident which required him to return to the East for medical treatment for his broken leg. He then visited Florida but returned to Wisconsin in the spring of 1850 and in 1851 brought his family from Boston to Marathon county, taking up a homestead in the town of Wausau, seven miles northeast of the city of Wausau, as at present. He lived there until he had acquired full ownership but later in life was a manufacturer of saw mill machinery, which he invented. His death occurred at Wausau, February 18, 1910, having survived his wife from November 15. 1892.
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Bert C. Gowen was reared at Wausau, attended the public schools and later Cornell University at Ithaca, N. Y., where he was graduated in the department of civil engineering. He returned then to Wausau and up to 1906 was mainly connected with railroading in his special line and at the time of his voluntary retirement was chief engineer of the Wisconsin & Michigan Railway Company, and Lake Michigan Car Ferry Transportation Company and superintendent of railroad, bridges and buildings, with headquarters at Peshtigo, Wis. Although this entailed an absence of twelve years from his native city it never interfered with his interest or loyalty and his home continued at Wausau.
Mr. Gowen married Miss Martha E. Rossman, of Wausau, a daugh- ter of Charles Rossman, who now lives on his farm in the town of Ringle, Marathon county. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gowen, two of whom died in infancy, the one survivor, Clarence R., being a student in the Wausau High School. Mr. Gowen is particu- larly well known in fraternal circles, being a thirty-second degree Ma- son and belonging to the Mystic Shrine at Milwaukee; to the Knights of Pythias and is past chancellor of the local lodge, and to the Brotherhood of Engineers. He also was a charter member of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association whose membership now includes thousands of the prominent engineers and railway officials all over the western hemisphere including Canada, Mexico and South America.
GUST LUECK, who is the owner of the widely known Clover Belt Stock Farm, 600 acres of valuable land lying in the town of Rib Falls, is one of the most industrious, thrifty and successful farmers, stock raisers and lumbermen in Marathon county. He was born in Germany, March 2, 1858, and is a son of Peter and Wilhelmina Lueck. The par- ents of Mr. Lueck were natives of Germany and when they came to the United States in 1871, they were accompanied by their children, two sons and three daughters. It was in the fall of the year when they reached Marathon county, Wis., and they remained that one winter with Gotthilf Koehler, in the town of Hamburg, but by April, 1872, Peter Lueck had selected his farm of ninety-eight acres and the family moved there. At that time no clearing had been done and the Luecks had to cut their own road. Very few settlers had yet ventured here and the nearest neighbor was two and one-half miles distant. It was hard work for the father to handle an axe effectively and much of this labor
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fell to Gust Lueck, who, fortunately was of robust build. The father died on that part of the present farm, when aged sixty-three years, the mother still living on the homestead in her seventy-seventh year.
Gust Lueck attended school as all German boys do, but had few ad- vantages after coming to Wisconsin. He is somewhat proud of the fact that he could be so useful to his father and on the pioneer farm cut the first and the last stump. At present he has 120 acres cleared for farm- ing and attends to all his work himself. He raises Red Polled cattle and Poland-China hogs, and also has Scotch Collie dogs for sale, and on ac- count of the abundance of clover grown here profitably, the pleasant name of Clover Belt was given the place. For the last twenty-one years he has sold his cream to the Hamburg Creamery.
Mr. Lueck was married to Miss Bertha Marth, who was born in Germany and was four years old when she was brought to America by her parents, Charles and Frediricka Marth. To Mr. and Mrs. Lueck the following children have been born, all in the town of Rib Falls; Henry H., who was married in Minnesota to Amanda Plautz: Martin C., who helps his father ; Otto E., who is a merchant at Hamburg; and Paul F., Frank E. and Clara M. Mr. Lueck and family are members of the Evangelical Lutheran church. He is a stockholder in the Athens Tele- phone Company and in the Farmers and Drovers Store Company at Athens. In politics he is a Democrat and has served on the board of supervisors of the town of Rib Falls, and for twenty-one years has been clerk of District No. 2, Hamburg and Rib Falls.
EDWARD P. GORMAN, who is serving in the responsible office of district attorney of Marathon county, is one of the younger members of the Wausau bar, the senior of the law firm of Gorman & Prehn. He was born June 3, 1883, and is a son of Patrick and Mary Gorman. Pat- rick Gorman, one of the best known men in the lumber industry for many years in this section of Wisconsin, now lives retired at Wausau. He was born in 1849 in the province of Ontario, Canada, and came to Marathon county in 1865, where he engaged in logging in the winters and farming in the summers, becoming well known in business and in- dependent in a financial way. He married in Wisconsin a lady who was born at Stevens Point, Wis., in 1857, and was brought to Wausau by her parents in 1858, where she yet resides. Her father was killed by the Indians in the far west and she was reared in the family of August Gauthier, an old settler. Her sister Rose was reared by Benjamin
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Single and is the wife of L. W. Thayer, of Ripon, Wis. The children born to Patrick Gorman and wife were: Mate, who is a trained nurse ; Edward P .; Susan, who is the wife of John 'Selover, of Merrill, Wis .; Walter T., who has charge of the retail business of the Barker & Stew- art Lumber Company ; Ralph, who is connected with the Security Lum- ber Company of Saskatchewan, Canada ; and Rose, who lives at home.
After completing his education, Mr. Gorman taught school for sev- eral years and after being admitted to the bar, practiced alone until June 1, 1910, when he entered into his present partnership. In politics he is a Republican. On December 1, 1911, he was appointed to the office of dis- trict attorney for Marathon county and subsequently was elected to the same and has proved his superior qualifications for so responsible an office. Mr. Gorman was married August 20, 1912. to Miss Jean Alexan- der, a daughter of Hugh and Minnie (Malone) Alexander. They are members of St. James Roman Catholic church, of which he is secretary and a trustee. He belongs to the Knights of Columbus, to the Catholic Order of Foresters, to the E. F. U. and the Eagles and also to the Wau- sau Club. He maintains his offices in the Heineman Building, Wausau.
CARL MERKLEIN, who conducts a first class meat market at No. 524 Scott street, Wausau, is well known in this line to a large circle of well satisfied customers. He was born at Wausau. December 18, 1868, and is a son of John and Caroline (Merklein) Merklein.
John Merklein was a highly respected citizen and well known business man of this city for many years. He came here early in the sixties and established a butcher shop on Jackson street and continued in the meat business during his entire active life, his death occurring July 5. 1906. His widow, who, like himself, was born in Germany, yet sur- vives and continues to reside at Wausau.
Carl Merklein had the excellent educational opportunities offered by the public schools of Wausau. He began almost in boyhood to give his father material assistance in the butcher shop and then learned the business in a thoroughly practical way. For three years he was as- sociated in business with his brother John Merklein at his present stand, but they sold out to a Mr. Steinke, of Merrill, Wis., but later Carl Merk- lein repurchased and began business on April 1, 1909. Mr. Merklein rents a slaughter house in the town of Weston near Scholfield. He is a careful buyer of cattle and gives his customers the very best that is in the market.
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Mr. Merklein married Miss Amelia Miller, a daughter of John Miller of Wausau, and they have two children: Marie and Ellen. Mr. Merk- lein is a member of the Woodmen of the World and belongs also to the Royal Arcanum. Although he takes much interest in public matters he has never desired public office, being contented with a just administra- tion of the laws by honest men.
ARTHUR M. RODERMUND, M. D., who is one of the younger mem- bers of the medical fraternity engaged in active practice at Athens, Wis., was born at Sun Prairie, Dane county, Wis., May 11, 1882, and is a son of Dr. Matthew J. and Maggie (Maroney) Rodermund. Of their five chil- dren, Arthur M. is the eldest and the only son, the daughters being : Margaret, Edith, Lorena and Dorothy. The father is engaged in medical practice at Madison, Wis.
Arthur M. Rodermund first attended St. Mary's parochial school at Appleton, Wis., afterward entering Lawrence University, where he remained until graduation. He subsequently graduated from the medical department of the University of Illinois, in the class of 1907. He was elected a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha, Honor Fraternity during his senior year. After an experience of nine months as an interne at St. Mary's Hospital, Chicago, Dr. Rodermund came to Athens, where he has built up a fine practice. He is a member of the County, State and National Medical Associations and thus keeps well informed regarding everything pertaining to medical advancement.
On April 10, 1912, Dr. Rodermund was married to Miss Caroline Deg- ner, a daughter of Henry and Caroline (Kreutzer) Degner, of Athens.
ADAM VON BERG, president of the State Bank of Mosinee, Wis., of which he was one of the organizers in 1904, has been at the head of this firmly established institution ever since and is one of the city's representative men. He was born in Dane county, Wis., April 6, 1854, and is a son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Bates) Von Berg. The parents of Mr. Von Berg were born in Germany and came to the United States when young. After their marriage they settled on a farm in Dane county, Wis., but in 1870 removed to Kingston, Green Lake county, and there the remainder of their lives were passed. To this marriage six children were born: Adam; Angeline, wife of L. A. Hart; Andrew; Hannah, wife of F. A. Scheibe ; Charles W. and E. J. After the death of his first wife, Andrew Von Berg married Magdalena Buhrmann and one son was born to them, Benjamin F.
ARTHUR M. RODERMUND, M. D.
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Adam Von Berg grew to manhood on his father's farm, many re- sponsibilities falling on him early as he was the eldest son, and his education was secured in the district schools, mainly in the winter 'sea- sons. He remained a farmer until 1903 when he retired from business except as a stockholder in local enterprises, until 1904 when he became interested in this financial institution and consented to assume the duties of its head which he has efficiently discharged ever since with the careful conservatism that has won and kept the confidence of the public. The other officers of the bank are: Louis Dessert, vice presi- dent; W. A. Von Berg, cashier, and Elizabeth Von Berg, assistant cash- ier, the directors being the bank officials with Carl Mathie and E. J. Von Berg.
In March, 1879, Mr. Von Berg was married to Miss Frances Gibbs, of Fox Lake, Wis., who was born in New York, a daughter of Benjamin F. and Caroline (Graves) Gibbs, whose other children were: B. F .. Nathaniel, Aurelia and Alonzo. Mr. and Mrs. Von Berg have two chil- dren: W. A., who married Lottie Webb, and Elizabeth B. Mr. Von Berg and family attend the Methodist Episcopal church. Nominally he is a Republican but claims an intelligent and untrammelled citizen's right to cast his vote independently as his own judgment may dictate. He has long been identified with the fraternal order of Modern Wood- men of America.
JAMES E. M'KAHAN, D. D. S., who commands a large dental practice at Wausau, was born at River Falls, Pierce county, Wis., April 19, 1879, and is a son of George W. and Lena (Thoen) McKahan. The McKahan family was established in Wisconsin in 1852, by Samuel Mc- Kahan and wife, natives of Scotland, but former residents of Washing- ton county, Pa., where their son, George W. McKahan, was born. He was nine years old when he accompanied his parents to Wisconsin and spent his subsequent life in this state, his death occurring in 1889, at the age of forty-two years. He married Lena Thoen, who is of Nor- wegian ancestry and still survives. Three sons and one daughter were born to them: Callie, who is the wife of Henry Elliott, of River Falls, Wis .; William D., who has charge of the Cudahy Bros. packing plant at Sioux City, Ia .; James E .; and George, who died of pneumonia in October, 1911, at Spokane, Wash., when aged twenty-four years.
James E. McKahan attended the public schools and after graduating from the River Falls High School entered the University of Illinois and
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in 1905 was graduated from the dental department. In the same year he located at Wausau and has been in active practice here ever since. Dr. McKahan has always kept well informed concerning every advance made in his science and is a valued member of the Marathon County Dental Society and the Central Wisconsin Dental Society, for five years serving as secretary and treasurer of the former organization and for three years of the latter. With the exception of five years spent in the west, Dr. McKahan has been a lifelong resident of Wisconsin. On Oc- tober 26, 1906, Dr. McKahan was married to Miss Pauline Anderson, of Menominee, Wis .. daughter of Anton Anderson, and they have two sons, George and Paul. In politics he is identified with the Republican · party.
HON. GUSTAV MUELLER, senior member of the well known firm of Mueller & Quandt, shoe dealers at Wausau, Wis., is one of the leading busi- ness men and of high standing as a citizen. He was born in Bonin, Kreis Regenwalde, Province Pommerania, Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, on the 3rd day of June, 1847, a son of August Mueller and his wife Caroline ( Schroe- der ) his father being parish teacher in this place, serving in that capacity for fifty years. Gustav Mueller attended the common school of his native land. and was reared in a comfortable home. At the age of seventeen le enlisted voluntarily in the army of Prussia in expectation of promotion, and being ac- cepted, was sent to the military school at Juelich, Rheinish, Prussia. After taking the course for six months he was taken sick with typhus fever and laid up at the barrack hospital for six months. As soon as his condition warranted his transport to his parents' home, he was sent there as an invalid on furlough. When the war with Austria broke out in 1866 he was called into service, but after examination by the physicians was declared unfit for service by reason of poor health, and mustered out of service as an invalid. He then remained at home until the fall of 1867 when he emigrated to this country, reaching Wausau, where he had come with a friend, in the last days of November. He was an entire stranger when he came here, but was soon employed as a clerk in the general store of August Kickbusch, doing farm work for his employer at odd times.
After an engagement of two years in that sphere, he was employed as a clerk in the dry goods and general merchandise store of Otto Siegrist, and stayed in that establishment for nearly one year. when he embarked in busi- ness for himself. At the store of August Kickbusch he had made the ac- quaintance of Chas. Quandt, another clerk in the same store, which acquaint- ance had ripened into friendship, and the two formed a partnership under the
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firm name of Mueller & Quandt, opening the first exclusive boot and shoe store in Wausau at the corner of 3rd and Washington street. On December Ist, 1885, the firm moved into their present quarters in the J. Gensman Block. Their venture proved to be a profitable one, and was carried on successfully until the death of Charles Quandt in the year 1901. The business however is continued under the same firm name and with the same good fortune, Mrs. Mary Quandt having taken over the interest of her deceased husband, and the firm of Mueller & Quandt is now the oldest establishment mercantile firm in the city of Wausau.
Gustav Mueller was married to Miss Elizabeth Ringle in the year 1872 and five children were born to them namely: Louise, and Otto, both of Wau- sau, and Ida, Caroline and Emma of St. Paul, Minn. Mrs. Elizabeth Mueller died at Wausau on the IIth day of January, 1887. Gustav Mueller entered into a second marriage with Miss Clara Kressin of Milwaukee his present wife, on the 7th day of January, 1894, and they had one child, which died in infancy.
Gustav Mueller was elected Mayor of Wausau in the year 1890, and his ad- ministration was a very commendable one. He is a member of Wausau Lodge 215 I. O. O. F. since 1873, having joined the order in 1869. He is conductor of the "Liederkranz" since 1888 which he joined as a member several years earlier at its organization. Both he and his family are members of the St. Paul's Evangelical church of Wausau, where his wife belongs to the Ladies sewing and other societies connected with this church.
HON. ANTON MEHL, who has been a resident of Wausau, Wis., for full forty years, was born June 12, 1845, in Dornholzhansen Kreis Wetzlar Rhein, Germany, and is a son of John and Katrina Mehl, whose lives were passed in Germany. Anton Mehl has long been a very promi- nent citizen of Wausau and has been identified largely with its com- mercial development. He was reared and educated in his native land and there provided for future self support and independence by learning the shoemaking trade. America became the goal of his ambition but before emigrating he served in the German army and took part in the Franco-German War of 1870-71, spending almost an entire year on French soil. Shortly after its termination he set sail for the United States with the intention of joining a cousin, Henry Mehl, who was already es- tablished at Wausau, and after reaching here worked at his trade, in which he prospered through industry, and in the course of several years was able to open a retail shoe store and conducted it for twenty-five years, in 1880 erecting his own building.
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